Current Positions

Mr Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa is the President of the Republic of South Africa; a position he was appointed to on 15 February 2018.

Mr Ramaphosa was appointed Chairman of the National Planning Commission on 3 June 2014.
In December 2012 he was elected Deputy President of the African National Congress (ANC).

Academic Qualifications

Mr Ramaphosa completed his schooling at Mphaphuli High School in Sibasa South Africa in 1971.

He holds a law degree from the University of South Africa obtained in 1981.

Mr Ramaphosa has also received several honorary doctorates from local and international universities including the University of Massachusetts the University of Cape Town the National University of Lesotho the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the University of the North

Positions last held/Career/Memberships/Other Activities

Mr Ramaphosa was Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa from 25 May 2014 until 15 February 2018. Mr Ramaphosa began his studies at the University of the North in 1972 where he became involved in student politics joining the South African Student Organisation (SASO) and the Black People's Convention (BPC.

He was detained in 1974 for organising pro-Frelimo rallies that were held to celebrate the independence of Mozambique. He was detained for the second time in 1976 following the Soweto student uprising and later imprisoned.

Mr Ramaphosa became the first general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers in 1982. In 1991 he was elected ANC secretary-general and subsequently became head of the ANC team that negotiated the transition to democracy.

Following the country's first democratic elections in 1994 he was elected chairperson of the Constitutional Assembly which wrote South Africa's new democratic constitution.

Mr Ramaphosa moved into the private sector in 1996. He was the executive chairperson of Shanduka Group which he founded in 2001. Mr Ramaphosa became the First Deputy Chairperson of Commonwealth Business Council.
He served as the deputy chairperson of the National Planning Commission from 2010 until 2014.

Research/Presentations/Awards/Decorations/Bursaries and Publications

He received the Olof Palme prize in Stockholm in 1987 and was included among the Time's 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2007.

In 2009 he was awarded the National Order of the Baobab in Silver by President Jacob Zuma for his contribution to the multiparty negotiations and for chairing the Constitutional Assembly to draft the new Constitution.